Hearing Explores the “Real State” of Human Rights in China After the PRC’s U.N. Review

(Washington)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Co-chair respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing this week examining the issues raised during the January 23, 2024 Universal Periodic Review of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.  

The hearing, titled “The PRC’s Universal Periodic Review and the Real State of Human Rights in China,” focused on the tactics used by the PRC to deflect international criticism of human rights conditions in China and explored the stark differences between the PRC’s own narrative about its human rights record and the reporting of U.N. treaty bodies and human rights advocacy organizations—which have documented a litany of abuse and the PRC’s failure to comply with its obligations under international human rights law.

To illustrate the ways the PRC seeks to deflect criticism of its human rights record, the CECC released a staff report exposing the PRC’s deployment of nongovernmental organizations to support its propaganda. Entitled “UPR Stakeholders’ Submissions Flooded with PRC-Sympathetic Reports,” the report provides evidence that nearly half of the organizations engaged in the UPR stakeholder process are in fact heavily politicized, and some are under the direct control of the Chinese Communist Party. The report can be read on the CECC’s website.   

In his opening statement, CECC Chair Smith said, “Last week, at the Universal Periodic Review of the People’s Republic of China at the United Nations, the Chinese Communist Party thought that it could drown out the truth of its shameful human rights record …. But even Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party, and the PRC’s massive 60-person delegation could not make a lie true. And it is indeed a bald-faced lie that the Chinese Communist Party respects, honors, or abides by international human rights norms.  Despite its best efforts, China has not succeeded at silencing those courageous men and women who insist on telling the truth about the real state of human rights in China, often at great cost to themselves—a cost some have paid with their lives.”

Co-chair Merkley said in his opening statement that ‘‘We have documented in our annual reports and explored in our hearings genocide against Uyghurs, decimation of freedom in Hong Kong, colonial boarding schools in Tibet, and China’s pervasive surveillance state…These are facts … . The Chinese government is obligated by international law to address these matters and put itself in compliance with the law .... As one NGO put it, the Chinese Communist Party ‘gaslights’ the world on its record by self-servingly redefining concepts and recruiting allies to deflect attention away from its actual conduct. And that conduct is in fact atrocious.”

Rana Siu Inboden, a Senior Fellow at the Robert Strauss Center for International Security, said that the “The PRC has become intent on using its presence in the U.N. to alter international human rights norms and rewire the system in ways that will make it easier for states to escape scrutiny of their human rights records [including by] asserting positions that challenge the universality of human rights norms [and] taking a page from the old Soviet Union Cold War playbook … shift[ing] consensus on the main content of the international human rights regime to focus on issues such as the right to development.” 

Benedict Rogers, the Executive Director of Hong Kong Watch, testified about religious freedom conditions in the PRC, saying that “over the past 12 years of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s rule, the crackdown on freedom of religion or belief has intensified significantly …. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Falun Gong practitioner, or practice another religion or belief, in mainland China today it is increasingly difficult and dangerous to practice your faith ….[In Hong Kong] the undermining of freedom of religion or belief … is subtle, slow and insidious. Pro-Beijing media in Hong Kong has already sounded the warnings, publishing articles last year attacking religion from various angles and calling for new regulations to restrict religious practice and establish a government department to vet, license and monitor religious groups.”

Emile Dirks, a research associate at the Citizen Lab, discussed online censorship in the PRC, testifying that through online censorship, the cooperation of technology companies, and digital transnational repression, “the Chinese state severely restricts the freedom of opinion and expression of people in and outside China …. Some of the most vicious instances of digital transnational repression are directed at women. As Citizen Lab researchers have documented, Chinese and Hong Kong women activists in Canada have suffered online threats of physical and sexual violence. Diaspora women in the United States, Australia, and other democracies have also been attacked online, due to their criticisms of the Chinese government.”

Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs, said of her experience attending the PRC’s UPR session that “overall, my observation is that what transpired in Geneva was not an isolated incident but a symptom of a much larger issue. The PRC’s conduct at the UPR, and the permissive attitude in that room, served as a microcosm of China’s broader disregard for international norms, human rights, and the dignity of Uyghurs and other persecuted communities …. The PRC operates with an audacious sense of impunity, treating the U.N. as if it were their own playground and getting what they want …. It’s high time nations stood firm against such bold affronts, ensuring that the U.N. remains true to the vision of Eleanor Roosevelt rather than a rubber stamp for a global offense on freedom.”

Sophie Luo, the wife of human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, testified about the persecution faced by human rights defenders, saying “Today’s hearing is so important to me, as the wife of an imprisoned Chinese human rights defender. We must continue to speak about the horrific human rights violations committed by the PRC government and the Chinese Communist Party. This is all the more important in the wake of the Chinese official delegation denials about its human rights abuses and its allies’ empty praise of poverty alleviation and so-called rights safeguards at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) last Tuesday, January 23, 2024. Behind me is a group picture of the political prisoners in China as of today. My heart aches terribly every time I see this picture. But I put it beside my desk, as a reminder of my mission: To let the world know the true human rights situation in China, and fight for the rights for all of them.”

The CECC Chairs announced at the hearing their nominations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize that included Sophie Luo’s husband, Ding Jiaxi, and three other champions of peace and freedom in China and Hong Kong—Xu Zhiyong, Ilham Tohti, and Jimmy Lai. The nomination letter sent to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee can be read on the CECC’s website.

Opening statements by the Chairs, witness statements and other statements submitted for the record, and an archived hearing video, can be accessed on the CECC’s hearing webpage.